Welfare of Animals in the Companion Animal Cloning Industry

Companion animal cloning is a commercially available service that raises significant animal welfare concerns due to the procedures involved and the fate of surrogate animals.

Key Facts

Commercial dog cloning costs approximately 50,000 dollars and requires multiple surrogate mothers per cloned puppy
Cat cloning is available in South Korea and China for approximately 25,000 dollars
Each cloning attempt requires harvesting eggs from donor females and implantation in multiple surrogates
Success rates for companion animal cloning are under 20% per implantation attempt
Cloned animals share genetics but not behavior, memory, or personality with the original animal

Welfare Considerations

Companion animal cloning creates multiple welfare harms for the surrogates used in the process. Egg donors undergo hormone superovulation and surgical extraction. Multiple surrogates receive embryo implantation. Failed pregnancies and spontaneous abortions occur repeatedly per successful clone. Cloning an individual animal does not recreate that individual — the resulting animal is a genetic twin, not the same being. The welfare cost to donor and surrogate animals is real; the welfare benefit to the owner is illusory.

What You Can Do

Do not support companion animal cloning services — the costs to surrogate animals are significant
Channel the resources toward adopting a companion animal from a rescue organization
Support breed preservation through responsible breeding with health testing rather than cloning
Educate others about the difference between genetic identity and individual personality in cloned animals